Job 21:1  Job replied:

Job 21:2  "Now listen to me carefully, please listen, at least do me the favor of listening.

Job 21:3  Put up with me while I have my say-- then you can mock me later to your heart's content.

Job 21:4  "It's not you I'm complaining to--it's God. Is it any wonder I'm getting fed up with his silence?

Job 21:5  Take a good look at me. Aren't you appalled by what's happened? No! Don't say anything. I can do without your comments.

Job 21:6  When I look back, I go into shock, my body is racked with spasms.

Job 21:7  Why do the wicked have it so good, live to a ripe old age and get rich?

Job 21:8  They get to see their children succeed, get to watch and enjoy their grandchildren.

Job 21:9  Their homes are peaceful and free from fear; they never experience God's disciplining rod.

Job 21:10  Their bulls breed with great vigor and their cows calve without fail.

Job 21:11  They send their children out to play and watch them frolic like spring lambs.

Job 21:12  They make music with fiddles and flutes, have good times singing and dancing.

Job 21:13  They have a long life on easy street, and die painlessly in their sleep.

Job 21:14  They say to God, 'Get lost! We've no interest in you or your ways.

Job 21:15  Why should we have dealings with God Almighty? What's there in it for us?'

Job 21:16  But they're wrong, dead wrong--they're not gods. It's beyond me how they can carry on like this!

Job 21:17  "Still, how often does it happen that the wicked fail, or disaster strikes, or they get their just deserts?

Job 21:18  How often are they blown away by bad luck? Not very often.

Job 21:19  You might say, 'God is saving up the punishment for their children.' I say, 'Give it to them right now so they'll know what they've done!'

Job 21:20  They deserve to experience the effects of their evil, feel the full force of God's wrath firsthand.

Job 21:21  What do they care what happens to their families after they're safely tucked away in the grave?

Job 21:22  "But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs? He's dealing with matters that are way over our heads.

Job 21:23  Some people die in the prime of life, with everything going for them--

Job 21:24  fat and sassy.

Job 21:25  Others die bitter and bereft, never getting a taste of happiness.

Job 21:26  They're laid out side by side in the cemetery, where the worms can't tell one from the other.

Job 21:27  "I'm not deceived. I know what you're up to, the plans you're cooking up to bring me down.

Job 21:28  Naively you claim that the castles of tyrants fall to pieces, that the achievements of the wicked collapse.

Job 21:29  Have you ever asked world travelers how they see it? Have you not listened to their stories

Job 21:30  Of evil men and women who got off scot-free, who never had to pay for their wickedness?

Job 21:31  Did anyone ever confront them with their crimes? Did they ever have to face the music?

Job 21:32  Not likely--they're given fancy funerals with all the trimmings,

Job 21:33  Gently lowered into expensive graves, with everyone telling lies about how wonderful they were.

Job 21:34  "So how do you expect me to get any comfort from your nonsense? Your so-called comfort is a tissue of lies."